


New Blooms

by BelowBedlam



Series: Lights in the Galactic Dark [3]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Attraction, F/F, Flirting, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 07:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10612320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelowBedlam/pseuds/BelowBedlam
Summary: Juju gets an angaran plant and Vetra, who does not like plants, comes to check it out.





	

It is a small plant inside of a clear, protective bubble. Something in between plastic and glass. The plant itself is as pink as Jaal, who’d given it to her, melding into purple along its edges seemingly at will. It rises from rich clump of Aya soil shaped like a meteor which is to say, misshapen. Covered in iridescent, needle-thin spines that glow a soft gray in the dark.

Next time they dock at the Nexus, Juju knows just where she’ll be spending her free time. She wants to know everything about it, she wants to break it down and absorb it. She isn’t a proper xenobotanist, she’s an amateur plant hobbyist with an okay biology background, but damn it if she doesn’t have a professional or three at her fingertips.

Jaal tells her that they call it spineflower. Juju knows an earth plant by the same name and she can see resemblance across galaxies. But she still can't help but think that Jaal has actually given her the most beautiful cactus she has ever seen. Space cactus.

Juju is still examining her gift when she feels eyes on her.

“You really like plants.” Not a question, a statement tinged with surprise. Juju grins at Vetra from where she sits like a stowaway atop the crates in the cargo bay, legs dangling over the edge. She beckons her over, as appreciative of the turian’s easy stride as she  if of her hesitant curiosity. Vetra stops just in front of her, squinting her eyes at the spineflower. “That’s a plant, right?”

“It’s definitely a plant,” Juju says, lifting the protective bubble so they can both see the tangle of roots curling through the soil beneath it. From where she sits on the crates, they’re about eye level to each other, something that never happens. “It’s a space cactus. Spineflower, probably something that sounds even nicer in Jaal’s untranslated language. Isn’t it pretty?” She holds out the plant, snickering when Vetra shrinks away. Though Juju can tell what Vetra feels about plants, she waits, watching the woman examine the spineflower without getting too close to the bubble. It’s cute. Ridiculously cute for someone like Vetra. Juju has seen her blow through Kett like paper in the field. Seen the menacing way she can walk around a room with that gun, claiming her space. But she’s got reservations about a space cactus behind glass.

“Here.” Juju turns the bubble, and they both follow the shimmer of pink and purple as the plant rolls its color, spines gleaming.

“It _is_ pretty,” Vetra admits, her double chords refining appreciative tones into song. She sweeps over the spineflower once more before fixing her green eyes on Juju. Just a little too green. “But what’s the catch, Ryder? There has to be one; it’s you, after all. The flower’s not just pretty.” There’s something teasing there and Vetra smiles, mandibles rising.

Juju swallows. She’s almost certain that Vetra is just nice- she’s nice to everyone on the _Tempest_ almost all of the time- but sometimes, the way the turian looks at her and talks to her makes her nervous. Good nervous, she thinks- the shiver down her spine is definitely the good kind of nervous. `

“Well...” she says, drawing out another silence so Vetra rolls her eyes, still smiling, “...okay, so if the spines prick you, it might inject an irritant that gives the angara rashes, and prove even more detrimental to Milky Way species? Maybe?”

More of that good nervous warms her up when Vetra tips her head back and laughs.

“I knew it.”

“Look, I like my plants with some bite, alright?” Juju grins. “I used to get first dibs off the seeds this one merchant brought back from all over Citadel space. The ones folks didn’t sell legal on port because they were dangerous. Things that bit or spit or burned. He’d let me pick from seeds or clippings or sometimes sprouts, and I’d fuck up trying to grow them.” She chatters on while Vetra slowly reaches for the bubble, taking the spineflower like it might burst from its protection and volley poisonous needles into everyone on board.

“And you just...wanted to grow death plants in your house?” Vetra shakes her head. “You know, I knew a guy who collected weird shit like that. He knew how to find other stuff too. Less dangerous, more expensive. Name was Taius.”

“No shit?” Juju gasps, covering her mouth when Vetra jumps. “Taius is the guy’s name who gave me the seeds! Weird, sort of eccentric turian? Really tall? Yellow markings? Wore a-”

“-baseball cap,” they say together, snickering.

“Makes sense he’d get around on the Citadel. He’s the only reason I know what a baseball cap is,” Vetra snickers. She leans against the crates, casually close. “Skeevy asshole, but he was funny.”

“Wonder who’ll be the new Taius of Andromeda.” Up close, Juju can see the fine make of the fabric around Vetra’s neck and collar. It looks soft and shiny, and comfortable. Touchable.

“Maybe it’ll be your retirement.” Vetra rests her head on her forearm, extending the line of her neck.

“I didn’t bring a baseball cap, unfortunately.” Juju looks down at her empty hands so she doesn’t stare.

“ _Someone_ did.” Vetra shrugs. “Say the word, I’ll get you a baseball cap.”

“I won’t use your superpowers for crazy. Gimme my plant.” Juju reaches out for the bubble, makes sure to drag her fingers against Vetra’s when she takes it. Cus maybe she’s just friendly, but friendly flirting is a thing people do. Not like there’s much time for anything more, really, with an entire galaxy riding on them.

This is what she tells herself.

If Vetra notices, or cares, she doesn’t really show it. “Listen, I’ve got my feelers out for a lamp shaped like a naked Asari. A baseball cap isn’t crazy.”

Juju squeaks, sputtering as Vetra moves away. “What?”

“Next time, Ryder.” She walks backwards a few steps before turning her back on Juju. “Liam’s been beeping me for five minutes, think he’s found that vid I asked for.”

“Does it have to do with naked Asari?” Juju asks, regretting it almost immediately when Cora looks over from the Nomad, curious frown on her face. “What’s up, Harper.”

Vetra’s laugh follows her out of the cargo bay like a breeze. Juju is painfully aware that she’d avoided answering the question.

***

The back of Vetra’s left hand tingles well into the vid Liam found, a human documentary on the Shadow Broker through the eyes of people who’d had some dealing with the enigma and lived. While they were - are, if Vetra’s hunch about them being an Asari is right - a criminal, they were (are) also one of the most notorious procurers in the Milky Way. They shouldn’t be forgotten, criminal or no.

Plus, Liam had promised peak dramatic narration and wacky interviews, which the vid definitely delivers.

When it’s done, she sits back on Liam’s ratty, comfy couch, rubbing the back of her hand. Trying half-heartedly to get rid of the soft electric buzz that has settled, determined, into all three of her knuckles. Ryder’s hand is small, and weird, but the pads of her fingers are soft and chilly and spark against Vetra’s skin. She forgets that the Pathfinder is a biotic, doesn’t even think about her when she thinks about biotics. Thinks about Cora before anyone else.

She won’t forget anymore. Secretly, she hopes the feeling lingers a while.

“So? Everything you hoped for?” Liam is as comfortable as Vetra ever sees humans, chewing at something he’d lodged in the back of his jaw. He’s an easy friend, open enough to enjoy and reserved enough to respect. “A friend back in the Milky Way gave me a ton of vids before I left, this one included. Never watched it before now.”

“I think it’s one of those things we need to keep, you know? Lot of shit back in the Milky Way happened because of the long hand of the Shadow Broker.”

“Agreed.” Liam sighs. “It’s still so weird to think that’s all...history, now. This vid wasn’t even two years old when Coop gave it to me. Now it’s an ancient artifact.”

He gets a little sad, all the soft curves of his face falling, and Vetra doesn’t know what to say. Sometimes the reality that they can never go back to the galaxy they remember hits her like a brick. Makes sense that it hits the other short-lived species on this ship, too.

But as quickly as Liam sinks, he rises back up, regaining some of his usual vigor.

“Hey, you seen that thing Jaal gave Ryder yet?”

Vetra chuckles, hoping it doesn’t sound as forced as it is. “Yeah. Spineflower. It’s poisonous, and of course our fearless leader is in love with it.”

Plants don’t really interest Vetra beyond her acknowledging their existence. No real love or hate either way. Some of them smell nice. She’s never really known anyone who’d, say, make herself comfortable in the cargo bay and watch a poisonous pink crumple do absolutely nothing. But Vetra has nothing sly to say or about the joy that lit the Pathfinder’s face.

Ryder jokes around a lot, has a lot to say, but it’s rare that she looks so positively thrilled. Vetra had to go over and say something, wanted to help brighten that light- A happy Pathfinder was a good thing, she decided.

And Jubilee-Jude Ryder has a hell of a smile.

“Right? But you know, I wanna know what’s in those spines myself.” Liam glances at her, but keeps talking. He sees everything and stores it away like his vids. Shares when he thinks it fits. Vetra noticed that early. She’s more curious about how he learned to read turian faces than anything.

“I always heard humans had a death wish.” She smiles at him, and all he can do is sigh.

“Can’t even argue. I think we-”

“This is Ryder.” The Pathfinder’s voice comes over the intercom. “Unless you’re Suvi or Kallo, who I will show personally so as to avoid crashing this very large and expensive ship, _come see what the space cactus did_.”

“It’s a spineflower,” Jaal corrects before the comm closes.

Liam hops to his feet immediately, pulling Vetra along when she doesn’t also spring up from the couch. Vetra doesn't spring. Not even for cute girls and their flowers. No matter how much she might want to.

  
  


The spineflower hadn’t yet bloomed. Now, it has. Its craggy calyxes peel back to reveal something like an anemone, its tendrils pitch black and gleaming like oil. They wave like sleepy fingers, curling over each other, brushing against the pale calyx insides.

The spines are all but hidden and all but forgotten in the presence of the true flower, and both Juju and Vetra see why people might accidentally prick a finger.

In the center is a single tendril, as vibrant a pink as its curled calyxes.

Everyone’s impressed. They’d indulged Juju at first because it good to see her excited, and the girl’s just cute, but this is something really worth seeing. Jaal stands close to Juju, clearly proud of his gift and its effect not only on her, but the entire crew. Pride in his own ability, but also surely pride in the beauty of his people’s planets, that he can share in some small way.

“Spineflowers often trick angara on their first visit to Aya, and always trick our children. But if they wait and are careful, when it’s right, they’ll find a gentler, more welcoming beauty waiting to emerge.”

Juju cradles the flower in her lap. It’s clear that she thinks it’s the most impressive thing they’ve found so far.  

Vetra still doesn’t get plants. One weird and potentially deadly alien flower won’t change that view. But she thinks if they can make the Pathfinder this fucking happy, then they’re okay. And maybe she’ll keep a lookout for anything else that might get that smile on her face as they trudge through the Helius Cluster.

**Author's Note:**

> Jaal is experiencing an intense migraine because his best friend is horrible at showing her (romantic) feelings, and Vetra is no better.
> 
> Spineflower is an actual plant. Not this actual plant. This actual plant is the lovechild of every alien plant i've ever seen in a movie.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)


End file.
